Modifying Existing Firmware Requires Knowledge of Special Programs and Techniques.

Modifying Existing Firmware Requires Knowledge of Special Programs and Techniques.

Low-level computer software



A boob tube
remote control
is an example of a production that contains firmware.

In
computing,
firmware
is a specific class of
computer software
that provides the
low-level control
for a device’s specific
hardware. Firmware, such as the
BIOS
of a personal estimator, may comprise bones functions of a device, and may provide
hardware brainchild
services to higher-level software such as
operating systems. For less complex devices, firmware may act as the device’s complete
operating organisation, performing all control, monitoring and information manipulation functions. Typical examples of devices containing firmware are
embedded systems
(running
embedded software), home and personal-apply appliances, computers, and
computer peripherals.

Firmware is held in
non-volatile retention
devices such as
ROM,
EPROM,
EEPROM, and
Flash memory. Updating firmware requires ROM
integrated circuits
to exist physically replaced, or EPROM or flash memory to exist reprogrammed through a special procedure.
[1]

Some firmware memory devices are permanently installed and cannot be changed afterwards industry. Common reasons for updating firmware include fixing bugs or adding features to the device.

History and etymology

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Ascher Opler coined the term
firmware
in a 1967

Datamation

commodity,
[2]

as an intermediary term betwixt “hardware” and “software”. In this article, Opler was referring to a new kind of calculator program that had a different practical and psychological purpose from traditional programs from the user’south perspective.

As computers began to increment in complexity, information technology became clear that various programs needed to first be initiated and run to provide a consistent environment necessary for running more circuitous programs at the user’south discretion. This required programming the reckoner to run those programs automatically. Furthermore, every bit companies, universities, and marketers wanted to sell computers to laypeople with footling technical knowledge, greater automation became necessary to allow a lay-user to easily run programs for practical purposes. This gave rise to a kind of software that a user would not consciously run, and it led to software that a lay user wouldn’t fifty-fifty know about.
[iii]

Originally, information technology meant the contents of a writable
control store
(a small specialized high-speed retentivity), containing
microcode
that defined and implemented the computer’s
pedagogy fix, and that could be reloaded to specialize or modify the instructions that the
fundamental processing unit
(CPU) could execute. As originally used, firmware contrasted with hardware (the CPU itself) and software (normal instructions executing on a CPU). It was not equanimous of CPU machine instructions, merely of lower-level microcode involved in the implementation of machine instructions. It existed on the boundary betwixt hardware and software; thus the name
firmware. Over time, popular usage extended the word
firmware
to denote any computer program that is tightly linked to hardware, including
BIOS
on PCs,
bootstrap loaders
on phones, or the control systems for simple
electronic devices
such as
microwave ovens,
remote controls, or
computer peripherals.

Applications

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Computers

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In some respects, the various firmware components are as important equally the
operating system
in a working reckoner. Nevertheless, unlike about mod operating systems, firmware rarely has a well-evolved automatic mechanism of updating itself to fix whatsoever functionality bug detected after aircraft the unit.

The BIOS may be manually updated by a user via a pocket-sized utility program. In contrast, firmware in mass storage devices (difficult-deejay drives, optical disc drives, flash memory storage e.m. solid country drive) rarely gets updated, even when flash memory (rather than ROM, EEPROM) storage is used for the firmware.

Read:  Auto Level Firmware for Tevo Tarantula Download

Most computer peripherals are themselves special-purpose computers. Devices such as printers, scanners, webcams, and
USB flash drives
have internally-stored firmware; some devices may also permit field upgrading of their firmware.

Other instances of computer firmware include:

Some low-cost peripherals no longer incorporate non-volatile memory for firmware, and instead rely on the host organisation to transfer the device control plan from a disk file or CD.
[4]

Home and personal-use products

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Equally of 2010
[update]
, most
portable music players
back up firmware upgrades. Some companies use firmware updates to add new playable file formats (codecs). Other features that may change with firmware updates include the GUI or fifty-fifty the battery life. Most
mobile phones
have a
firmware over the air
firmware upgrade capability for much the aforementioned reasons; some may fifty-fifty be upgraded to enhance reception or sound quality.

Automobiles

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Since 1996, nearly
automobiles
have employed an on-lath computer and various sensors to detect mechanical issues. Every bit of 2010
[update]
, modern vehicles also employ figurer-controlled
anti-lock braking systems
(ABS) and computer-operated
transmission control units
(TCUs). The commuter can also make it-dash data while driving in this manner, such equally real-time fuel economy and tire pressure level readings. Local dealers can update most vehicle firmware.

Other examples

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Other firmware applications include:

Flashing

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Flashing

[5]

involves the overwriting of existing firmware or data, contained in
EEPROM
or
flash memory
module present in an electronic device, with new data.
[5]

This can be done to upgrade a device
[6]

or to change the provider of a service associated with the function of the device, such as irresolute from one mobile phone service provider to another or installing a new operating system. If firmware is upgradable, information technology is frequently done via a program from the provider, and will frequently permit the sometime firmware to exist saved before upgrading and so it can exist reverted to if the process fails, or if the newer version performs worse. Costless software replacements for vendor flashing tools have been adult, such every bit
Flashrom.

Read:  How to Update Firmware on Surface Pro 4

Firmware hacking

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Sometimes, tertiary parties develop an unofficial new or modified (“aftermarket”) version of firmware to provide new features or to unlock hidden functionality; this is referred to equally
custom firmware. An example is
Rockbox
equally a firmware replacement for
portable media players. There are many
homebrew
projects for various devices, which oftentimes unlock general-purpose computing functionality in previously express devices (east.grand., running
Doom
on
iPods).

Firmware hacks usually accept reward of the firmware update facility on many devices to install or run themselves. Some, however, must resort to
exploits
to run, because the manufacturer has attempted to lock the hardware to stop information technology from running
unlicensed code.

Nearly firmware hacks are
free software.

HDD firmware hacks

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The Moscow-based
Kaspersky Lab
discovered that a group of developers it refers to as the “Equation Group” has developed
difficult deejay drive
firmware modifications for various drive models, containing a
trojan equus caballus
that allows data to be stored on the drive in locations that will non exist erased even if the drive is formatted or wiped.
[7]

Although the Kaspersky Lab study did non explicitly claim that this grouping is part of the United States
National Security Agency
(NSA), evidence obtained from the lawmaking of diverse Equation Grouping software suggests that they are part of the NSA.
[8]


[9]

Researchers from the Kaspersky Lab categorized the undertakings by Equation Group equally the nigh avant-garde hacking operation ever uncovered, also documenting around 500 infections caused by the Equation Group in at least 42 countries.

Security risks

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Mark Shuttleworth, the founder of the visitor
Canonical, which maintains the
Ubuntu Linux
distribution, has described
proprietary
firmware every bit a security risk, maxim that “firmware on your device is the
NSA‘southward all-time friend” and calling firmware “a trojan horse of monumental proportions”. He has asserted that low-quality,
airtight source
firmware is a major threat to system security:
[10]

“Your biggest mistake is to assume that the NSA is the just institution abusing this position of trust – in fact, information technology’s reasonable to assume that all firmware is a cesspool of insecurity, courtesy of incompetence of the highest degree from manufacturers, and competence of the highest caste from a very broad range of such agencies”. As a potential solution to this trouble, he has chosen for declarative firmware, which would describe “hardware linkage and dependencies” and “should not include
executable code“.
[eleven]

Firmware should be
open-source
and so that the code can be checked and verified.

Custom firmware hacks accept also focused on injecting
malware
into devices such as smartphones or
USB devices. One such smartphone injection was demonstrated on the
Symbian Bone
at
MalCon,
[12]


[thirteen]

a
hacker convention. A USB device firmware hack called
BadUSB
was presented at the
Blackness Hat USA 2014
conference,
[14]

demonstrating how a
USB flash drive
microcontroller can exist reprogrammed to spoof various other device types to take control of a estimator, exfiltrate information, or spy on the user.
[xv]


[16]

Other security researchers accept worked further on how to exploit the principles backside BadUSB,
[17]

releasing at the same time the source code of hacking tools that tin can be used to modify the behavior of dissimilar USB devices.
[18]

Read:  How Do You Update Firmware on Vizio Tv

See too

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References

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  1. ^




    “What is firmware?”. 23 Jan 2013.




  2. ^



    Opler, Ascher (January 1967). “Fourth-Generation Software”.
    Datamation.
    thirteen
    (one): 22–24.




  3. ^




    “Introduction to Computer Applications and Concepts. Module 3: System Software”. Lumen.




  4. ^



    Corbet, Jonathan; Rubini, Alessandro; Kroah-Hartman, Greg (2005).
    Linux Device Drivers.
    O’Reilly Media. p. 405.
    ISBN
    0596005903
    .


  5. ^



    a






    b






    “Flashing Firmware”. Tech-Faq.com.
    Archived
    from the original on September 27, 2011. Retrieved
    July 8,
    2011
    .




  6. ^




    “HTC Developer Center”.
    HTC. Archived from
    the original
    on Apr 26, 2011. Retrieved
    July 8,
    2011
    .




  7. ^




    “Equation Group: The Crown Creator of Cyber-Espionage”.
    Kaspersky Lab. February 16, 2015.
    Archived
    from the original on December 2, 2015.




  8. ^



    Dan Goodin (February 2015).
    “How “omnipotent” hackers tied to NSA hid for 14 years—and were found at final”.

    Ars Technica
    .
    Archived
    from the original on 2016-04-24.




  9. ^




    “Breaking: Kaspersky Exposes NSA’s Worldwide, Backstairs Hacking of Nigh All Hard-Drive Firmware”.
    Daily Kos. February 17, 2015.
    Archived
    from the original on February 25, 2015.




  10. ^



    “Shuttleworth Calls for Declarative Firmware”.
    Linux Magazine. No. 162. May 2014. p. 9.




  11. ^




    Shuttleworth, Marking
    (March 17, 2014).
    “ACPI, firmware and your security”.
    Archived
    from the original on March 15, 2015.




  12. ^




    “MalCon 2010 Technical Briefings”.
    Malcon.org. Archived from
    the original
    on 2011-07-04.




  13. ^




    “Hacker plants back door in Symbian firmware”.
    H-online.com. 2010-12-08. Archived from
    the original
    on 21 May 2013. Retrieved
    2013-06-14
    .




  14. ^




    “Why the Security of USB Is Fundamentally Broken”.
    Wired.com. 2014-07-31.
    Archived
    from the original on 2014-08-03. Retrieved
    2014-08-04
    .




  15. ^




    “BadUSB – On Accessories that Turn Evil”.
    BlackHat.com.
    Archived
    from the original on 2014-08-08. Retrieved
    2014-08-06
    .




  16. ^



    Karsten Nohl; Sascha Krißler; Jakob Lell (2014-08-07).
    “BadUSB – On accessories that turn evil”
    (PDF).
    srlabs.de.
    Archived
    (PDF)
    from the original on 2016-10-19. Retrieved
    2014-08-23
    .




  17. ^




    “BadUSB Malware Released — Infect millions of USB Drives”.
    The Hacking Post. Archived from the original on 6 Oct 2014. Retrieved
    7 October
    2014
    .



    {{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)



  18. ^



    Greenberg, Andy.
    “The Unpatchable Malware That Infects USBs Is Now on the Loose”.
    WIRED.
    Archived
    from the original on 7 October 2014. Retrieved
    7 October
    2014
    .




Modifying Existing Firmware Requires Knowledge of Special Programs and Techniques.

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